Two Killers Freed After Docs Forged; Teen With Autism Missing For 15 Days; Suspected Bully's Mom Arrested; Federal Government Reopens To New Deadline; Early Winter Snow; Buying Shares Of A Sports Star; Cruz Won't Rule Out 2nd Shutdown; Dick Cheney Opens Up About His Health; Memory in a Digital Age; Teen with Autism Missing for 15 Days

Aired October 19, 2013 - 08:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: We have another hour to get things right. The next hour of your "NEW DAY" starts right now.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Two convicted killers still on the run after a major blunder sets them free.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those inmates were released based on those court orders that we received.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, a nationwide manhunt is on to get them back in prison.

CABRERA: A 14-year-old teen with autism vanishes in New York. Can his mother's voice help lure him home? Why police are turning to a train yard this morning for new clues?

BLACKWELL: And to all these smart phones, well they are not making us very smart. Our technology is zapping our memories now more than ever.

CABRERA: Good morning, everyone. We hope your weekend is off to a great start. I'm Ana Cabrera.

BLACKWELL: You made it. It's time to celebrate. I'm Victor Blackwell. It's 8:00 on the east coast, 5:00 on the west coast. This is NEW DAY SATURDAY. We have a lot coming up this morning including for the first time, sports fans can actually own a piece of an athlete. A San Francisco brokerage service allows fans to buy and sell shares of their favorite athletes.

CABRERA: And if you're a Houston Texas fan, you might want to find out. They have their first athlete to participate is Arian Foster. He'll get paid $10 million up front for 20 percent of his future income including endorsements and other business.

BLACKWELL: A report on how all of these works is coming up.

CABRERA: But we begin this morning with a search for two convicted killers on the run in Florida. Prison officials say two inmates sentenced to life, Charles Walker and Joseph Jenkins gained their freedom by gaming the system using fake released papers that included a forged signature from a judge.

BLACKWELL: The men were so brave and they actually went in and registered as felons after getting out. Here's CNN's Nick Valencia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHERIFF JERRY DEMINGS, ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA: There have been tips being received in terms of legitimate spotting.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two convicted killers on the loose. Free after they used forged documents to get an early release from a Florida prison, but how did Joseph Jenkins and Charles Walker duped the system? That's a question no one seems to be able to answer and a mistake no one wants to own.

DEMINGS: I'm not here to point fingers at anyone. There will be plenty of that to go around eventually I'm sure.

VALENCIA: In Between the fingers of Evangelina Kearse is a letter from the Florida Department of Corrections about her son's killer, Charles Walker. It says his release was beyond their control.

EVANGELINA KEARSE: We are in shocked, frightened, and the system let us down for letting a murderer go free. I understand that the state attorney and the judge had nothing to do with it. But somebody, I don't know if it was an inside job, whoever did help him. I do believe that. They had to have help.

VALENCIA: It was the fake signature of Judge Belvin Perry that ordered the release of both Walker and Jenkins. The high profile judge says he's not entirely surprised.

PERRY: People, particular people with criminal minds come up with ingenious ways to beat the system. They have nothing but time on their hands to think of things.

VALENCIA: The Department of Corrections, which allowed the release said they were only following procedures and was, quote, "not at fault." We don't have the statute or authority to question the court's decision, a spokeswoman said. This will be a lesson learned for all involved. The Florida Department of Corrections has since made changes to the process of early releases. They tell CNN they would require verifications from the sentencing judge before any other inmates are released early.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: And now Nick is joining us live from Franklin Correctional Institute in Carrabelle, Florida. Nick, this is not the first time something like this has happened. Tell us about what you learned. VALENCIA: Yes, Ana, it's leaving a lot of people scratching their heads as to how officials here in the state of Florida couldn't have known that there were these types of fraudulent schemes out there. Back in 2011, a third man named Jeffrey Forbes tried to scam the system using forged documents for an early release. If it wasn't for a private investigator that was closely looking at his case and knew that because he tried to kill a law enforcement officer, he wasn't eligible for that release. Forbes could be out as well.

Now here's the ironic twist to this all, charges were levelled against Jeffrey Forbes on October 7th. The next day, what happened, Charles Walker, one of those men that is currently on the loose, well, he was set free using a similar type of fraudulent scheme.

CABRERA: Unbelievable.

BLACKWELL: Crazy story. Nick Valencia, thank you. Two weeks and one day. That's how long a mother and father have been searching for their lost teenage son this morning. Avonte Oquendo has autism and cannot communicate verbally and he was last seen running out of school in New York.

CABRERA: Ever since hundreds of police officers and volunteers working around the clock have been hunting through tunnels, sewer systems, subway stations, for any sign of the 14 year old. CNN's Alexandra Field is live in New York with more on the extensive search -- Alexandra.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Avonte Oquendo's parents are doing everything they can right now to keep the focus on finding their son. They're going to speak to the public again later this morning around 9:45 asking for help to find the boy who cannot ask for help himself. Avonte has been missing since October 4th. Surveillance video shows him walking down the hallway in his Long Island city school and then running out the door.

Those are the last known pictures of Avonte. Since then hundreds of police officers and countless volunteers have been searching for Avonte. They have handed out flyers with his picture on it. They have searched by foot, the water, and from the air. Now every day that goes by his parents are becoming increasingly desperate to find him. Here is what his mother had to say about her missing son.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANESSA FONTAINE, MOTHER OF AVONTE OQUENDO: He is a special boy, a loving boy, a caring child. Whoever has him out there, please be kind to him and let him go, let him come home to his family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: His parents, of course, want to keep the troops motivated to find their boy that's why they are speaking this morning. But at the same time a source tells CNN that given the length of time that Avonte has been missing, police have brought in cadaver dogs to help them with their search -- Ana, Victor.

CABRERA: Alexandra, have there been any sightings? Do you know where their search is headed?

FIELD: No, sightings, Ana, but they are looking in a few key places. Our source tells us that a railroad depot yard in Long Island City, not far from the boy's school has been at the center of the search. We know that Avonte loved trains. His parents tell us that this 14- year-old was crazy about trains. Police searched 468 subway stations with no luck there and continuing to search every one of those train stations. That's every station in New York City.

BLACKWELL: Alexandra, this is amazing. I have seen searches in Texas and Florida, and states that are not as congested as New York. Have you ever seen a city shutdown like this for a missing teenager?

FIELD: Victor, it's really rare for a city of this size to slow down for just one person. The name Eton Pates comes to mind. Of course, the boy who went missing from New York City in 1979, that case made national headlines. Since then in recent memory there is nothing of this scale really. This is a story that it seems every New Yorker is talking about. This boy's picture is everywhere. In fact, police are driving patrol cars with his mother's voice playing asking him to come to the flashing lights. So they are pulling out ever stop, no stone unturned and the story is getting everyone's attention -- Ana, Victor.

CABRERA: That's why we keep putting that picture out there. Alexandra Field live in New York. Thanks.

BLACKWELL: Glad they are committed. The mother of a teenage suspect in a bullying suicide case has been arrested in Florida. Police say Vivian Basberg faces charges of child abuse after this video surfaced of her beating several children. They say the charges are unrelated to her 14-year-old daughter's case. Her daughter, Guadalupe Shaw, is accused of felony stalking in the suicide of 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick. Sedwick killed herself in September after reportedly enduring months of online bullying.

CABRERA: Congress took the country to the very edge of the fiscal cliff before finally agreeing on a plan to reopen the government and avoid default.

BLACKWELL: Problem is we can do all of this again in a few months, facing another budget crisis, and it's going to take a different attitude in Washington to avoid that, of course.

CABRERA: Chris Lawrence joins us from Washington. Chris, any evidence that the two sides are ready to work together for some kind of long-term solution?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: They're going to have to. All the last deal did was set a new deadline to come up with a real agreement. This time they're only going to have about eight weeks to find a compromise, something that they couldn't do in six months last time. Both Republicans and Democrats are already signalling not to expect any sort of grand bargain. In other words, no big deal that would say rewrite the tax code or find some long-term funding for things like Medicare or Social Security. They're going to be looking at the small items. But I asked a representative for Taxpayers for Common Sense about the chances to find that can compromise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: Is there any chance to the folks in that building are going to do a better job of compromising this time?

STEVE ELLIS, TAXPAYERS FOR COMMON SENSE: They have to. I mean it's hard to do much worse than what they have done in the past. So really all eyes are on them and we need them to step up. We actually need lawmakers to do their job for once.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: The Republican-led House of Representatives passed a budget that included about $1 trillion in spending cuts. The Democratic- controlled Senate passed a budget that had about a trillion dollars in new taxes. Now they have until about the middle of December, in fact, it's Friday the 13th of December to find a way to bring those budgets together and get something the president can sign -- Ana, Victor.

BLACKWELL: For people who are superstitious that's the wrong way to start.

We see you're at the World War Ii Memorial, a place where we saw a lot of contention between the people who were just doing job as it was closed down and people who wanted to get in. Eventually those veterans got in, thank God, but let me ask you about this, your expert said the House has to do its job, I want to ask you about the speaker's ability to do his job.

Because we saw in the last few weeks Ted Cruz whipping votes in the House walking from one chamber to the other to get people to support him, any idea that Cruz is going to be willing to compromise on Obamacare this time around?

LAWRENCE: Ted Cruz may not be willing to compromise, Victor, but there are some in Congress who feel that in some strange way that Speaker John Boehner has been empowered by all of this. In other words, the Republicans have sort of played their trump card. They shut down the government. They brought this all to the edge of default. They're probably not going to do it again.

In fact, the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has already signalled they're not going to shut the government down again. So that may give a little more power to John Boehner. It may give him a little more incentive to cut a deal, and this time the Republicans may have a little more on their side in that those mandatory spending cuts kick in January. So Democrats this time are going to have more incentive to try to negotiate a deal to get rid of some of those mandatory spending cuts.

CABRERA: All right, the drama continues to Washington. Chris Lawrence, thank you. BLACKWELL: If you're heading outside today, you might to pull out a winter jacket. In some places you need boots and scarves too. It's going to be chilly across a lot of the country this weekend.

CABRERA: Let's bring in meteorologist, Karen Maginnis in the CNN Weather Center this morning. Karen, what can people expect this weekend? We know it's pretty nice and mild here in Atlanta, but we have seen snow in other parts of the country.

MAGINNIS: As Wyoming saw seven inches, but let's look at what Denver saw. It was snow really came down, but when it was all said and done they only collected about an inch. But further to the west, some of the higher peaks, they saw between three and six inches. For Denver you are looking at another chance of maybe a rain and snow combination for tomorrow.

Then in Dodge City, Kansas, well, typically their high temperature would be about 70 degrees for this time of year. So this was a rare event. Even though that snowfall was very isolated, some areas get as much as five inches. For that Front Range and extending into southern sections -- also extending into Wyoming, we could see a little snowfall moving up towards the upper Midwest.

Northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, a couple inches expected here with very cold temperatures, especially with back to back clipper systems. They reinforced that cold air 50 going down into the 40s for Chicago over the next several days. The average high for Chicago, around 61 degrees, it will be 56 in Chicago for today. New York City, temperatures in the 60s there and Denver 62 -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: Let me amend my comment. I like snow when I'm looking at it out the window.

MAGINNIS: We know skiers and snowboarders are happy this morning.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Karen, thank you very much. Coming up, buying stock in a jock. We'll explain how a Houston Texas is asking you to invest in him.

BLACKWELL: It's 17 after the hour now. We learned overnight that NBA Hall of Famer Bill Russell was arrested at Sea Tank International Airport in Seattle. Police say the 79-year-old was cited for carrying a gun into a prohibited area at the airport on Wednesday. The former Boston Celtics star has been released, but he could still face a fine of $7500. CABRERA: OK, are you ready for this? You can now buy a stock in a jock. That's right. A new exchange lets you in a way own a piece of a pro athlete.

BLACKWELL: Yes, a start up called "Fantex" is behind this new investment. So how did all this work? CNN Zain Asher has the answer to that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAIN ASHER, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the field he is explosive. Off of it, charming.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: What's your favorite food?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My mom's enchaladas --

ASHER: And if one company has its way, he'll soon be a publicly traded asset.

BUCK FRENCH, FANTEX CEO: We are interested in working with Arian because he has attributes that are beyond just being a pro-ball running back. His approach to life and things off of the field make him an attractive candidate for us.

ASHER: Star NFL runningback Arian Foster is the first athlete to sign up with Fantex, a San Francisco based start up that will allow fans to buy and sell shares of their favorite athletes. Fantex will pay Foster $10 million upfront in exchange investors get the opportunity to earn 20 percent of Foster's future income including money from playing contracts, endorsements and appearance fees. Fans can buy a stake at $10 a share and they have to invest a minimum of $50. But veteran sports consultant Robert Tuchman is looking into the stock.

FRENCH: How you play or the performance of your play gives you a platform to have a voice in the marketplace which impacts your brand.

ASHER: But what's in it for the athletes.

FRENCH: For players, this is a complete home run for Arian Foster. He is basically buys himself insurance for his playing days.

ASHER (on camera): So why Arian Foster? Well, he is one of the NFL's biggest stars. His brand has surged with the popularity of football. He is an all-star running back for team owners, and Fantex want to make him a must buy for investors.

(on camera): Investors should check carefully. Fantex list risk factors on their website including the risk of athletes getting injured and unforeseen issues with its trading platform and if Fantex doesn't make enough money in the initial offering, it says it's scrapping the deal. Still, the company is bullish about bringing sports investing to the average Joe.

FRENCH: We really embrace the concept of him being a trail blazer and it fits his brand, and how we see him. And we think there is a desire for that out in the marketplace.

ASHER: Zain Asher, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Attention politicians, when conceded a race to your opponent, not a good idea to give your wife the old brush off. We'll do "Politicians Say What?" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: All right, it is 24 minutes after the hour, and it's time for --

CABRERA: I want to know how you're going to do it.

BLACKWELL: "Politicians Say What?" Body language it could speak volumes in politics and this -- you got to see this.

CABRERA: I kind of feel embarrassed for him, watch as former New Jersey Senate candidate, Steve Lonegan, during his concession speech, the Democrat Cory Booker on Tuesday night gives his wife the brush off as she is trying to comfort him. It's kind of painful to watch. That has gone viral now on the internet.

BLACKWELL: Tea Party Republican Greg Collett is running for a seat in the Idaho State House. During the campaign, he has rallied against government health care programs, but there is a problem here, all ten of his children are on Medicaid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG COLLETT (R), IDAHO STATEHOUSE CANDIDATE: When I participate in the government programs, it's not necessarily because I agree or disagree with the program.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Collett says that he participates in this government program to support his children and stay out of jail.

Coming up on NEW DAY, a new threat to life on earth, an asteroid may be heading our way carrying the explosive force of a few thousand atomic bombs. We have details on this one next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back, everyone. I'm Ana Cabrera. BLACKWELL: Good to have you, I'm Victor Blackwell. Let's start with five things you need to know for your NEW DAY.

CABRERA: Number one, a sheriff in Florida says, quote, "A system failure led to the escape of two convicted killers. Officials say inmates Charles Walker and Joseph Jenkins used forged released papers to get out. Authorities only learned they left after a relative of one of the escapees notified them.

BLACKWELL: Number two, new developments in the Kendrick Johnson case we've been covering for months. New information about the surveillance footage indicates that the 17-year-old was not alone in the gym on the day he died and that other minors were there. His suffocated body was found in January rolled up, upside down in a gym mat. The Georgia Sheriff's Office determined that his death was accidental. His parents are challenging that. A U.S. attorney is now reviewing that case to determine if a federal investigation will be open.

CABRER: Number three this morning the arrest of an American who allegedly wanted to join al Qaeda. That is the accusation the U.S. Justice Department is making against Marcos Alonso Zea. He's 25 years old. He's from Long Island, New York. Now the FBI has been tracking Zea for about two years. And an affidavit signed at one opponent Zea wanted to go to Yemen so he could quote "Participate in violent jihad."

BLACKWELL: Number four a dangerous asteroid zips by our planet last month. Is there any other time? Well we didn't even know it the asteroid was discovered during the government shutdown while NASA was closed. If it hit the earth the force would have been equal to a couple of thousand atomic bombs. And scientist say the asteroid heads back our way in 2032 but the odds of it hitting earth then are one in 63,000.

CABRERA: They are making plans though.

BLACKWELL: $18 billion place.

CABRERA: Just in case. Number five some sad news on Capitol Hill the longest serving House Republican has died. Florida Congressman Bill Young passed away yesterday in Maryland surrounded by his family. According to his chief of staff Young died from complications related to a chronic injury. His 22 terms spanned more than 40 years on Capitol Hill. He was 82-years old.

BLACKWELL: January 15th, mark it on your calendar. Congress has until then to come up with a spending plan the Democrats and Republicans can live with or we could face another government shutdown. We could do this all over again.

CABRERA: But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that -- told "The Hill" newspaper quote, "There is no education in the second kick of a mule. There will not be another government shutdown."

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: We're not going through the shutdown again because people have been too traumatized by it, there's too much damage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: But Texas Senator and Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz would not rule out a second shutdown. He won't rule out anything in an interview with ABC News. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you would do it again?

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: I would do anything and I will continue to do anything I can to stop the train wreck that is Obamacare. And in particular look the test that matters John, is are we doing anything for all the people that are getting hurt from Obamacare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right let's talk about the way forward with Jason Johnson an HLN contributor, professor of political science at Hiram College in the studio with us we appreciate you coming in; and Ben Ferguson a nationally syndicated radio host in Dallas

Ben I've got to start with you. Will Ted Cruz do this again? You probably don't know the answer to that, no one does. But does he have enough pull in the House to get those House Republicans to toe the line one more time?

BEN FERGUSON, CONSERVATIVE RADIO HOST: Well he's definitely got pull, but I don't think he's probably going to do this. And I think part of it is because we have seen that the White House also knows that if we have another government shutdown they are going to get blamed as well for not negotiating. At the very end we saw a little bit of movement from the White House and we saw a movement from Democrats saying look we know we're going to need to change some things. Reopen the government. We're willing to look at Obamacare, we're willing to look at changes and I think that's why Ted Cruz thinks honestly despite (ph) was worth it because now they're actually is going to be negotiating.

Because if we shutdown again I think the President is going to take a lot more blame for not being willing to keep things moving. And he's got time now. I mean he should be at Camp David in my opinion this weekend with the Republicans saying we're not going to have this happen again let's fix it early, let's not go to deadline let's move forward. And I think that's probably what's going to happen. They'll get some sort of compromise.

CABRERA: Speaking of compromise Jason Democrats really didn't really have to do a whole lot of compromising to get through this initial crisis, but again it's not over yet. JASON JOHNSON, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: Right.

CABRERA: What do you see as the biggest hurdles that have to be overcome in order to reach some kind of a compromise negotiation?

JOHNSON: Basically it's sort of entitlement reform and sequestration. What the Democrats want to do is they got to change sequestration, it's not good policy. The idea of just taking a hatchet to our defense, a hatchet to our Social Security, and everything else like that it's not a good plan. The Republicans don't want to give up any more revenue.

So if they find some small deals, it's not going to be a grand bargain, some small deal I think we'll be able to go forward. The Republicans don't want this again. They don't want any sort of government shutdown that goes into 2014. Because that way, voters will actually remember by the midterm elections and they'll suffer.

BLACKWELL: Yes a bipartisan policy center says that about $600 billion will be spent going into the next debt ceiling limit is hit, $300 billion of that maybe fixing what had to happen to make it at this point. Let me ask you this, and I'm going to come to you after this with -- for you, Ben as well.

But Republicans -- Democrats rather during this argument have been really fond of making a comparison to a credit card. People at home understand the credit card.

FERGUSON: Right.

BLACKWELL: But when Americans apply for an increase in their debt limit, the company doesn't just say hey we know you need the money so we'll increase it. There is conversation about spending and payment history and income before they make that decision. Why can't that discussion happen before the increasing the debt ceiling?

JOHNSON: Well here is what's interesting about it. Any time people say we should run the government the way we run our own homes. Look at how most Americans run their home. Let's be honest, we don't save money, we're not particularly responsible, we're asking the government to be more responsible than we are.

And the reality is the government has expenses that regular people don't have. Regular people don't have to pay for an army in a foreign country. Regular people don't have to pay for hundreds of millions of seniors who are about to retire.

So the idea that we have to have some sort of a debate every time we raise the budget ceiling, that doesn't really make much sense. There are things that the Republicans have said that make sense but the idea of holding the whole country up, that ruins our economy, it ruins the global economy.

CABRERA: And Ben you know Republicans are supposed to be the party of fiscal responsibility and yet Republicans are getting a lot of the blame for the government shutdown. FERGUSON: Yes.

CABRERA: And that we've learned has cost our country some $24 billion in revenue, how do you make ends meet here?

FERGUSON: Well -- you look at $24 billion is nothing compared to the fact that we have a $17 trillion debt is what the now the debt clock shows as we reopen the government. $17 trillion is a real number that people are starting to pay attention to.

And the other thing is under Barack Obama and this is something where this last government shutdown actually put the spotlight in this, the President of the United States of America, has never passed a budget. Now he said well it's the Republicans fault. He had control of the House, he had control of the Senate and he was the President for two years and never passed a budget.

And so a lot of people are starting to say hold on as President of the United States of America, as Commander-in-Chief, we don't even have a budget for this country yet you're telling me that you need me to give more money to you? I even know that not having a budget is a terrible plan.

And so people are seeing that. And I think that's where this responsibility comes in. I mean if we want to stop the chaos, then stop having continuing resolutions which is the equivalent of the American people calling their credit company on a Friday begging them saying I know I've maxed out my card, but please let me have a couple more grand that I can spend over the next week. It's not fine with the American people anymore.

BLACKWELL: Ben you say that like the President writes up a budget over Saturday night and just hands it in Monday morning. I mean the Democrats and the Senate have asked for (inaudible) what 16, 18 times and have been rejected and came to this point. So it's not like the President then says we got a budget let's do it.

FERGUSON: Yes, but asking and doing are two different things. I mean when you have been President for five years, you're the first president in history that never passed a budget when you've had almost a super majority at the beginning of your term. This is -- this is the difference between looking at something saying Kumbaya and the reality is they don't want a budget because they don't want the American people to actually see where all our money is going and what we're spending on it.

Otherwise you would pass a budget. You say I'm the bigger man this is my budget and he's never done in this president I think it's hurting him right now.

CABRERA: Ok.

BLACKWELL: We will see that as we move forward we've got to wrap up this conversation. But Jason Johnson, Ben Ferguson, we always appreciate the conversation thank you for both joining us this morning. JOHNSON: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Hey coming up, Dick Cheney opens up about his health in a new book. The former Vice President says he was so concerned he did something that was unprecedented just two months after taking office.

CABRERA: But first, it has been 27 years since Chris Evert won the last of her 18 grand slam titles. And the soon-to-be 59 year old takes a quick look back at her career. Here is this week's "Open Court."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS EVERT, FORMER PRO TENNIS PLAYER: I'm not a Steffi Graf athlete. I'm not a Martina Navratilova -- I don't kind of want to say average, but -- but I just was a -- was a good athlete with a lot of hunger and it works for me.

Keep working on that slice (ph) back hand ok because that's going to get you out a lot of trouble.

I'm the worse as far as remembering my results and my record. And you know Chrissie how many times did you win family circle cup? No idea sometimes I don't know that I recognize that person. You know, because she was so focused. And kind of so one dimensional and just -- it was all about tennis. And winning tennis matches and being number one and as soon as I became a parent, I realized that life is so much more full and there is so much more depth in life than -- than just becoming number one in the world at something.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who is your favorite aunt in the whole word?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aunt Chrissie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: 17 minutes until the top of the hour.

After decades in public office, the very private Dick Cheney is now opening up about how his heart health was deteriorating during his vice presidency.

CABRERA: Cheney sat down with Dr. Sanjay Gupta to talk about those revelations in his new book "Heart: An American Medical Odyssey".

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, most people have a pretty strong opinion about Dick Cheney. But whatever you think of him, you may be surprised to know that over the past 35 years he has had five heart attacks, open heart surgery, a heart pump, and even a heart transplant at age 71. He revealed all of this in his new book called "Heart" that he's written with his cardiologist, Jonathan Reiner.

But I will tell you when I sat down with him, he was so concerned about his health at one point, that just two months after taking the oath of Vice President, he took this unprecedented action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Basically what I did was I resigned the vice presidency effective March 28 of 2001.

GUPTA (on camera): So nearly for your entire time as Vice President there was a letter of resignation sent.

CHENEY: Pending -- pending.

GUPTA (voice over): Cheney discovered there was no provision in the constitution to replace a vice president who was alive but incapacitated. So he drew up a letter of resignation to give to the President.

CHENEY: It says "In accordance with Section 20 of Title III of the United States Code, I, Richard B. Cheney hereby resign the office of Vice President of the United States."

GUPTA (on camera): How did President Bush react when you told him about this?

CHENEY: A little surprised but he thought it was a good idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: We also spent a lot of time talking about the impact that such significant disease had on his job not only as Vice President but also as Secretary of Defense and as a Congressman. And keep in mind Dick Cheney had his first heart attack when he was just 37 years old. Back to you.

BLACKWELL: Thank you Sanjay.

You can see the full interview with former Vice President Dick Cheney tomorrow on "60 Minutes" and then Tuesday on "ANDERSON COOPER 360".

CABRERA: Coming up here on NEW DAY, computers and smart phones help or hinder your memory? And how is technology changing how we experience or even remember special moments in our lives. A must-see segment for any gadget lover or anyone who has a smart phone for that matter.

I have always had a great deal of respect for our servicemen and women.

I work a lot with the USO, I love working with them and we've been able to go and do so many tours overseas.

Where my girls are? All right.

Being in a position where you can take a little piece of home to your servicemen and women, I mean why would you not do that?

Because they need to know that we have their back, because they have ours. It's the right thing to do and that's why I do it.

The USO, they've been doing this for over 60 years. You cannot compare those shows to any other shows but you do.

I wish I could just donate my whole time to just doing these tours. I'll do it in a heartbeat. I love it.

Join the movement, impact your world, and you can be a part of something really special.

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CABRERA: All right everyone -- pop quiz. What is your mother's phone number? What about your best friend's number? Would you be able to say?

BLACKWELL: I don't know the answers to any of these questions.

CABRERA: We have our smart phones and it becomes a crutch in our lives.

BLACKWELL: It really is I mean. And don't be embarrassed if you don't know either because our favorite gadgets like iPhones may actually be hindering our brains everything from short term memory to the phone numbers of the people we love.

CABRERA: And right now Lauren Walsh is joining us. She teaches at New York University. It actually has a new course called "Memory in the Digital Age" -- what a great topic for us this morning. Good morning to you and thanks so much for being with us Lauren.

LAUREN WALSH, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: Hi.

CABRERA: So although it's a convenience to have what seems like every name and number in the world on our tiny smart phone along with of, course, the (inaudible) photos, the videos, you say all of this can be paralyzing? Explain.

WALSH: Well, I think what's paralyzing about it is the sheer amount of information that we create these days. One of the things that we should understand is that we generate and save more information today than we ever have before in history and that's because it is cheaper, it's faster, it's just easier to save everything than to spend time editing and sorting and deleting.

Think about how many e-mails you have in your inbox, how many photos you have on your camera or on your computer. And the point is what used to be ephemeral or forgotten is now made permanent and the sheer volume of what we have today can be overwhelming.

BLACKWELL: So does it get worse as we continue this lifestyle? I mean a lot of people are just getting their cell phones in their 20s, 30s, 40s -- or because kids now have their iPads at two, three, and four and they'll have in their whole lifetime, is it going to be worse for the next generation?

WALSH: Well, I guess there will always -- or potentially always be more and more information generated. My students tell me that they are born into a generation that is much more fluent and fluid with these technologies so the hope is they're going to be better able to organize some of this information that older generations find kind of staggering.

I mean I think that's one of the most important factors of figuring out productive ways to wade through all of this information.

CABRERA: You go to a concert and everybody pulls out their smart phone not only to take pictures but to record an event as it's happening. Does that impact how we are experiencing that event and then how we even remember it later down the road?

WALSH: I think this is a pretty common behavior especially among teens and 20-somethings. And I certainly had students tell me that they do feel less in the moment when they're so focused on photographing what's going on around them. It seems to me that digital technologies are enabling a behavior that allows us to treat the present almost as if it's already the past even while the present is still unfolding because we're so focused on those artifacts.

So this means that in the long run maybe the photo albums that we generate are going to be more extensive and in that regard they will better preserve the past. At the same time we were probably less engaged with the moment when it was the present.

BLACKWELL: You know, you teach this course, "Memory in the Digital Age", what do you think about schools giving the kids iPads and laptops instead of books?

WALSH: I don't know if iPads have replaced books, but I certainly think if schools have the resources to put iPads in kids' hands, that's fantastic. It would be foolish to pretend that we don't live in a digital age so why not integrate that into our students' education. Presumably, we can also use this as an opportunity to teach students how to use these technologies responsibly. How to, for instance, be judicious with what content they post about themselves online.

CABRERA: Right.

BLACKWELL: Yes, they're a lot better at that than, I guess, we are. I think I'm pretty good at it.

CABRERA: It's almost innate, my two-year-old knows how to use an iPhone, it's scary.

BLACKWELL: All right. Lauren Walsh, thank you so much.

WALSH: Thanks for having me.

CABRERA: Remember when you post on the Internet, you're playing to the entire world. A toned mom shows off her figure on Facebook and boy does she get ripped.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HODA KOTB, TALK SHOW HOST: I don't like people who brag about something good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (inaudible) don't owe us anything. It's inspiration and it's motivation and I look up to her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think if she had said you can do it too -- you can do it too, maybe that would have been --

(CROSSTALK)

KRISTI PAUL, HLN HOST: She is feeling the wrath of haters everywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: It's a story stirring up a lot of talk.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we are talking about the tightened and toned mom who is sparking controversy around the nation, all over television. Here's why -- here's the photo. Her name is Maria Kang. She s a mother of three, she posted this pic on her Facebook page. A picture of herself with the three kids and a caption "What's your excuse?"

CABRERA: She looks good -- no doubt about it. But this set off a fire storm. People have accused Maria of being a bad mom, photo- shopping the picture, even bullying.

Maria Kang joins us live in the 10:00 hour to answer her critics. So please join us for that.

Right now let's check in with Christine Romans for a preview of what's coming up at 9:30 on "YOUR MONEY". Good morning Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: Hi, Ana and Victor. Remember these two dates? That's right, now we have two more on the calendar. Don't be fooled. The countdown crisis continues. I'm going to show exactly what this new calendar means for "YOUR MONEY". See you at 9:30 a.m. Eastern -- Ana, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. See you then. Thank you, Christine. And thanks for starting your morning with us. We have a lot more coming up on NEW DAY SATURDAY --